Nihilist

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Platforms:

PC

Publisher:

Philips Interactive Media

Developer:

Bits Corporation

Genres:

Arcade / Shoot Em Up

Release Date:

1996

Game Modes:

Singleplayer

There have been a number of takes on Asteroids over the years, the latest of which is Nihilist, otherwise known as “Asteroids for the Cyberpunk crowd.” With an extreme bent toward being 3D and inertially challenged (or, more precisely, challenged by inertia), this is one of those titles which tends to grow on you after repeated attempts to figure out just what’s going on.

Nihilist is played mainly from a first-person perspective, though you can choose from among a few different viewpoints. The game takes place in outer space grid-enclosed arenas, where you must win a battle of supremacy against other foul and sometimes alien clans. The grids can be elliptical, flat, or spherical; some enable up/down movement, while others allow only forward/back and rotational left/right motion. You collect power-ups and cash in the arena, which make it possible for you to get or buy better ships, weapons and equipment and pay your way into the next challenge.

The main problem is that the game isn’t that easy to play. Inertia dictates your every move, especially when shooting at opponents (leading your shots takes on a whole new meaning in Nihilist). Since you start out with a bare-bones ship which is, at best, obnoxiously sluggish, it’ll take some time to move up to more responsive ships, and the game really strains the player to stick with it that far.